F1 Driver Charles Leclerc Unveils The Real Behind The Scenes of Formula 1 Racing

Charles Leclerc 0:00 A Ferrari Formula 1 driver, that's all I dreamt for. In all of the difficult moments, I always remember myself how lucky I am to be in that position and living of what I love most, which is driving. I love what I do, but I want to be the best.

Jay Shetty 0:14 There's one man in the Formula 1 that has gotten a lot of attention, the championship contender, Charles Leclerc. If your father was here now, what do you think he'd say to you?

Charles Leclerc 0:23 As soon as he passed away, I asked myself, what would he want me to do?

Jay Shetty 0:30 Hey, everyone, I've got some huge news to share with you. In the last 90 days, 79.4% of our audience came from viewers and listeners that are not subscribed to this channel. There's research that shows that if you want to create a habit, make it easy to access. By hitting the subscribe button, you're creating a habit of learning how to be happier, healthier, and more healed. This would also mean the absolute world to me and help us make better, bigger, brighter content for you and the world. Subscribe right now. The number one health and wellness podcast. Jay Shetty.

Speaker 1:08 Jay Shetty.

Jay Shetty 1:09 The one, the only Jay Shetty. Hey, everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world, thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to become happier, healthier, and more healed. I don't think there's anything more interesting in the world than human story, and what I love about this podcast is I get to dive into the minds of people that are often mysterious. We don't know so much about them. We may see them on the big screen, but here we're getting to learn about them behind the scenes. And today's guest is someone who I met just a few moments ago. I've been looking forward to this interview for a long, long time. I'm so glad to finally have him in the studio, and in the few moments I've spent with him, I can already tell that we're gonna have a great conversation. Please welcome to On Purpose, Charles Leclerc. Charles Leclerc is one of the biggest names in global sport. Charles currently races in Formula 1, driving for the legendary Ferrari since 2019, the youngest driver in history to be signed up by the team. Charles features in the hit Netflix series Drive to Survive, and is loved by fans and sports community alike for his positive mindset and determined, straightforward approach. Charles, thank you for being here.

Charles Leclerc 2:20 Well, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person and, uh, and to be here.

Jay Shetty 2:26 When I was

Jay Shetty 2:27 researching, as I do for all my guests, I can listen to interviews, I'll read articles. You haven't done a lot of interviews. You don't talk so much about things publicly. I was wondering, why did you feel now was the right time and this was the right platform?

Charles Leclerc 2:42 You, you've got something special in all the, in all the different interviews you do. I think you get out the best out of the, of the people, and it's something very special. Of course, we do lots of interviews, but they are mostly based on our racing career, of course, which I'm very happy to speak of, uh, and about all the time. But it's good also to get to know the, the person behind the, the steering wheel. In our case, we always have a helmet as well, so it's difficult to put a face on the name sometimes, and, uh, I think it's a great way to, uh, maybe show a bit of myself.

Jay Shetty 3:10 Yeah, definitely, and I wanna thank you for that. I wanna thank you for trusting me, and I wanna say how grateful I am that you allowed us to have this conversation because it's not always comfortable to take the helmet off and do this.

Charles Leclerc 3:20 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 3:20 And so I appreciate it. But let's, let's dive straight in. I wanna ask you,

Jay Shetty 3:24 what would you have been if you weren't a race car driver?

Charles Leclerc 3:28 Oh, good question to start with. Uh, probably an architect. I love design in general. I wouldn't have been good enough to be an artist.

Jay Shetty 3:36 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 3:36 Uh, but, uh, but definitely an architect. I love architecture in general. It's, uh, another passion of mine, so yeah, probably an architect.

Jay Shetty 3:45 Nice. And do you think that some of that passion has helped with being a Formula 1 racer, with the engineering, the understanding of the car, the design? Do you think that's transferred or not really?

Charles Leclerc 3:57 Not really because, uh, obviously with my career, I had to stop quite early school, uh, to, um, put myself into and, and having the best chances in order to succeed in that sport. You need to very early on taking crucial decisions and, uh, my parents were always very supportive of, of that, which obviously helped me as well. But so I, I didn't do the study to get to, uh, being an architect or, or close of being an architect, uh, but it's always something that interested me. So no, it did not help my racing career.

Jay Shetty 4:25 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 4:26 But it's des- definitely something that I would like to look at once my career is done, uh, to maybe, um, yeah, be able to do something there.

Jay Shetty 4:34 Don't speak too soon. We don't need your...

Charles Leclerc 4:36 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 4:36 We, we've got l- you've got many, many years ahead of you, so we'll, we'll put that out-

Charles Leclerc 4:39 Yes

Jay Shetty 4:40 ... into the far, far future. When

Jay Shetty 4:43 you first had the experience of driving your first ever race car as a young boy, I believe you were like four years old.

Charles Leclerc 4:49 Yes, three and a half.

Jay Shetty 4:50 Three and a half. Walk us through what you remember. What was the first time you remember driving a car and you remember how you felt, and what was that feeling like?

Charles Leclerc 5:00 Well, first of all, I started by total coincidence. I was a kid, three and a half years old. I didn't want to go to school that day, and, uh, I said, my father, I was ill, and he believed me. By coincidence, he had to go and see his best friend, which own a karting track. So I, uh, got in the car with him, went there, and then I was seeing the karting going around the track and I was asking, "Can I try?" But obviously at three and a half years old, there are not really any karts, uh, made for a, a three and a half years old kid. Uh, but luckily for me, the owner, um, which was, uh, Jules Bianchi's father, Philippe Bianchi, uh, had a karting made, uh, for his son when he was three and a half, so there was everything ready. And, uh, I tried for the first time there and I remember, uh, the first lap, they attached a rope to my karting and there was an adult driving in front of me just to make sure that I would be able to turn, et cetera. And after the first lap, we took off the rope and I went on until there was no fuel left.

Jay Shetty 5:56 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 5:57 Um, so it was an amazing feeling. Straight away, I, I enjoyed- The feeling of being in control of, uh, a karting at such a young age was something very, very, um, amazing to experience, and I li- I loved the adrenaline that it gave me. So it was a definitely a very special moment. I cannot remember it because I was too young.

Jay Shetty 6:17 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 6:17 But at the same time, I've got images that my, uh, father had done of this day, which, uh, yeah, gives you back a bit the feeling of the day.

Jay Shetty 6:24 Yeah, that's beautiful to be able to look back. Yeah, I was thinking, if you remember that from three and a half, that's impressive.

Charles Leclerc 6:29 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 6:29 I was like, I can't remember-

Charles Leclerc 6:30 No, no, I don't

Jay Shetty 6:31 ... anything from when I was three and a half years old. But pictures do such a-

Charles Leclerc 6:34 Yes

Jay Shetty 6:34 ... wonderful job of, of doing that. Walk us through

Jay Shetty 6:38 the level of discipline and rigor and training that you've had to adopt. I feel like the Formula 1 season is, like, relentless. It's long, it's tiring, it's exhausting. When I look at the amount of races there are, when I've spoken to other drivers, it's just, it's all-encompassing. Like, your whole life is absorbed into this.

Charles Leclerc 7:02 Of course.

Jay Shetty 7:02 How have you allowed yourself, and we're getting to the end of the season right now as we're taping, how have you developed the stamina? Like, what does it take to see yourself through to the end when it's so grueling and so demanding?

Charles Leclerc 7:15 It changes a lot in, in your career because you start in, in karting, where there you are spending a lot of days on track, but it's always a track that is very close to your house. So even though you travel or you spend a lot of time in the car to get to the track, you are racing all day, you come back at home in the evening, it's still quite easy in a way because it's all very, very close. Then you get to, uh, single seaters, Formula 4, Formula 3, Formula 2, where you've got to travel a bit more all around Europe, I would say. Uh, but you've only got, like, 12, 13 races to do in a year, so it's still not too much. It takes a lot of time, of course, but it's still not too much. And then you get to Formula 1, and it's 24 races now all over the world, and in between the races you also got to do a lot of events, sponsorship events. For, uh, the preparation of the races, I'm going in the simulator in Maranello, so lots of things are adding up, which, uh, makes it a season that is extremely tiring. And especially when we get to the end of the season, like it is now, uh, it is more and more difficult. But then it's all about trying to, um, uh, plan the things better. I arrived the first year in Formula 1, and to be honest, I was a mess. I, [laughs] I arrived and I was doing the flight myself. I would get to the track, uh, the day just before, uh, the practice will start, and I would be super tired. And especially the end of the season, then you don't manage to stay at your 100% all the time. And then of course with experience you learn. Now there are, uh, a whole team of people helping me in all of this because it's super important to be 100% at the end of the season. And now, yeah, you, you, you plan the things better in order to, uh, uh, to keep a good quality of life, training, diet, uh, sleeping is super important. The different time zones, uh, all over the world is very difficult to manage as well. But now I am, uh, up to speed with that.

Jay Shetty 9:08 Yeah. I love hearing that. I remember, I've interviewed different athletes in different sports, and I remember speaking to one athlete who at the time was at the cusp of, I think, potentially going to one day become one of the, one of the best. And I remember asking him, like, what his routine was and how he prepared, and he didn't have one.

Charles Leclerc 9:28 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 9:29 And it didn't get better. Like, it didn't improve-

Charles Leclerc 9:31 Mm. Yeah, sure

Jay Shetty 9:32 ... from there, and then you see that it's hard to sustain a career like that. Walk us through,

Jay Shetty 9:36 because I think people are fascinated, because I think p- anyone who's not a fan of F1 or hasn't watched Drive to Survive, as we were talking about earlier, or doesn't understand it, they don't recognize how physically demanding it is to sit in a car. I'll just give an example to everyone. I went go-karting l- like two weeks ago, and I was nowhere near going as fast as you go, [laughs] obviously in an electric go-kart. And I came back with, like-

Charles Leclerc 9:59 The ribs.

Jay Shetty 10:00 Yeah, with, uh, completely bruised and, like, and that's just from, like, a little kids go-karting thing. It's so demanding in so many ways. Walk us through, first of all, walk us through your, like, your diet, your sleep, what, what is that routine like for you personally? What do you eat? What, what do you need to build in terms of working out, et cetera? And then talk to me about what actually happens during a race to you. Like, what's going through your body and mind?

Charles Leclerc 10:25 The sleep for me is the number one priority. It is so incredibly important, is where obviously you, uh, you rest and, uh, recover all the energy in the body that you need, and it's something super important. So on that I'm, I'm, I'm super strict. I'm a good sleeper. I probably sleep around 10, 11 hours a night. [laughs] So-

Jay Shetty 10:42 Wow

Charles Leclerc 10:42 ... really, really a long, long, long time.

Jay Shetty 10:44 Do you have any tricks for that, or are you just a good sleeper?

Charles Leclerc 10:46 No, I'm a good sleeper.

Jay Shetty 10:47 Wow.

Charles Leclerc 10:47 The only big problem I have is that I don't sleep in planes.

Jay Shetty 10:51 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 10:51 For some reason, I, I struggle to sleep in planes, um, which I spend a lot of time. So I need to, uh, take the planes by day so I can stay awake and all, all of these kind of things. But, uh, but again, that is part of, of planning. Diet, I've got a dietician in Milan that is following me and sending me all the, um, diet requirements. I used to have something very repetitive, which then you get bored of. Um, now it's a lot more diverse, so it's very difficult to, to get into the details of what I take.

Jay Shetty 11:22 Yes.

Charles Leclerc 11:22 But it's more carbohydrates, especially once race day are coming. Our weight fluctuates a lot throughout, uh, throughout a week of racing because, uh, you get the Friday before train, before the practice, uh, driving practice, and you are quite heavy because there you ate a lot of carbohydrates. That takes the water. You drink a lot of water. You need to be well-hydrated. But then we go through extreme heat inside the cockpit, so you lose so much water, and in some races you can lose up to three and a half, four kilos of, of water.

Jay Shetty 11:55 Wow.

Charles Leclerc 11:55 Which, um- It's very difficult then in the one or two days after to recover from that. Yeah, this is super important, the hydration plan and, uh, and, and, and the dietician plan in order to be fully on it throughout, uh, throughout the weekend. And then physically, it is a very strange sport in a way because there are muscles that no other sports y- really use-

Jay Shetty 12:18 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 12:18 ... which, especially the neck, by example.

Jay Shetty 12:20 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 12:20 The neck is probably the, the, the hardest part to train properly because it's full of little muscles that you don't use, and that is very difficult to reproduce in a gym. So driving is basically the only training you can get for that, as much as you are trying with elastics to try and reproduce that. But it's very difficult. Whenever we get to the first day of practice in February after the winter break, you speak to all drivers and, uh, at the end of the first day, they are all so tired.

Jay Shetty 12:50 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 12:50 So tired, just because the neck is a very difficult one to, uh, to use, but to train. But then lots of cardio training, uh, it's super important. And another thing that is also difficult to, to train is the breathing techniques.

Jay Shetty 13:04 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 13:04 Because with the G forces, sometimes it's very difficult to, to breathe normally, so we do a lot of apnea in the corners, but this is something that you get used-

Jay Shetty 13:13 Mm-hmm

Charles Leclerc 13:13 ... year after year sh- driving, uh, Formula 1 cars.

Jay Shetty 13:15 Yeah. Wow, no, s- really great, really great breakdown there because I think you never think about, for most people, you never think about the neck. You're never thinking about obviously the breath. The losing of weight is, is incredible. You've talked about before

Jay Shetty 13:28 that in your karting days, your mental health or your, like your resilience, your mindset was a lot weaker. How did you experience that? What did that look like back in the day? What do you mean by your mindset was weaker then?

Charles Leclerc 13:40 I was extremely harsh on myself-

Jay Shetty 13:43 Mm

Charles Leclerc 13:43 ... which I think now is a strength because I'm, I'm super honest with myself, and I, I don't like to be nice to myself whenever I do a mistake. I'm, I'm very harsh and I'm, I'm very honest with myself. But at the same time, I think the reaction from that is extremely important, the way you react to mistakes you've done inside the car. This is where you manage to transform a mistake into something positive from, from learning from it. And now when I was younger, I, I didn't have the right reaction. I would put myself so much down. It will also hurt my, my self-confidence. Now it's very different. I, I know that I got to a certain level because I worked hard, of course, because there's also a part of, of talent that you have when you are young. It's super important to keep the self-confidence super high in those difficult moments. Otherwise, you can lose a little bit the way, the direction, uh, in which you need to work and, uh, it can make things a bit more complicated. So that's where I was struggling when I was, uh, when I was younger.

Jay Shetty 14:44 Yeah. I, I love that you brought that out because I feel like everyone can relate to that. Like, whether you drive cars or you don't, everyone can relate to the idea that we can be harsh on ourselves, we can be heavy on ourselves, we can be self-critical and judgmental. How

Jay Shetty 15:02 do you, or how did you learn to like... Let's say you've just done the first lap and you made a ton of mistakes, or you feel like you're behind. I can imagine that it's so easy for the next two laps to just be lost in criticizing yourself and the thought in your head just being, "Should have taken that better. Should have done this. Should have done that." How did you grow to have a more positive relationship with that honesty and that self-criticism as opposed to that thought repeating in your head? Has that happened before? Have you ever felt that, where you're criticizing yourself during a race, or there's no time for that?

Charles Leclerc 15:34 Actually, no. I think, I think adrenaline helps us in our sport to not think too much because you haven't got-

Jay Shetty 15:39 It's too hard

Charles Leclerc 15:39 ... you haven't got the time to think. You go from one corner to the other. If you're already thinking about your last corner, you're going to do a mistake at the next corner. So you've got to mentally reset at every corners, and if you did a mistake, you need to reset for the next corner, which is in one second.

Jay Shetty 15:55 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 15:55 So it's super quick, but I think adrenaline helps you. I think where I struggle more is when you finish a race-

Jay Shetty 16:01 Mm

Charles Leclerc 16:02 ... on multiple laps and you are looking back at it and you're like, "Okay, this, this I shouldn't ha- I shouldn't have done that mistake. I should have known that. I should have prepared for that." And then I was putting myself down, and that had a, a much longer effect as well because then for, you need to wait for the next race in order to move on, and, uh, that's in one or two weeks' time. And for one or two weeks you're like, "Okay, I just can't wait to be back in the-

Jay Shetty 16:28 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 16:28 "... in the karting to show what I can do." Uh, but in those last two weeks, you need to accept obviously the, the view of others, which was also something that was hurting me back in the past and it's, it's just not, not good for, for, for learning from your mistakes.

Jay Shetty 16:44 Are you excited for the next race to prove yourself? That's what it sounds like. Like, there's that feeling of adrenaline of like, "Okay, I can't wait to be back on the track." Have you ever had a moment where you're like, "I don't want to go back on the track because I'm scared or I'm, I'm fearing losing or failure or..."

Charles Leclerc 17:00 Never. Never, because I love so much what I do, and in every tough times, I think I always like to remember myself when everything started, when I was three and a half. But I, I don't remember that time, so around seven or eight years old, the way I looked up to Formula 1, the way I dreamt, dreamt of being in a position I am today, a Ferrari Formula 1 driver. That's all I dreamt for. I still want to win a world championship, which is another dream of mine, and I'm working for that. But in all of the difficult moments, I always remember myself how lucky I am to be in that position and living off what I love most, which is driving. So that remind me h- how much I love this, the sport that I'm doing and how much I love what I do, no matter the situation I'm in.

Jay Shetty 17:46 Yeah. That's a beautiful mindset to have, and how have you kept

Jay Shetty 17:49 that gratitude? Like, I'm listening to you right now and I just feel you sound so grateful and so happy to be here. It's not an egotistic arrogance, but it's a sense of like joy and excitement. Like, you still have that freshness with it even though you've done it for 20 years now.

Charles Leclerc 18:03 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 18:04 Like, how have you kept that freshness? Like, what is it that makes you fall back in love with it?

Charles Leclerc 18:09 Um-

Jay Shetty 18:09 Because you're so young, but at the same time you've done it for so long.

Charles Leclerc 18:12 Exactly. Yeah, yeah.

Jay Shetty 18:12 It's like-

Charles Leclerc 18:13 It's been 20-

Jay Shetty 18:13 Yeah

Charles Leclerc 18:14 ... three years that-

Jay Shetty 18:15 Yeah

Charles Leclerc 18:15 ... I'm in the sport now, so a, a very, very long time. But, um, I don't know, just the un- adrenaline that it gives me, being lucky enough to work with so many incredibly talented people because all the engineers, all the mechanics, all the people around the team are people that have, um, focused their own life in order to arrive to the position they are in now. And to be able wi- to work with so many incredible people is, uh, is a big chance. So, uh, whenever I work with them, it's always super interesting. You learn every day in this sport because it's a very complex sport. There's the driving part of course, but then there's all the technical parts of the, of the cars. And yeah, just being able to stay with those people, speak with those super interesting people, and also do the driving, which is what I love the most, which is, uh, yeah, whenever I put the helmet on I've got a smile on my face.

Jay Shetty 19:05 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 19:05 Because the, the adrenaline that I get when, uh, I get on the throttle getting out the pits is something super special. So, um, yeah, I, I love what I do.

Jay Shetty 19:15 Yeah. It sounds like you're so fearless on the track and you've built that mindset as time has gone on. What about

Jay Shetty 19:23 off the track? Is there anything that scares you, any fears that exist? Does, does that fearlessness on the track help you off the track, or is it just two different worlds and two different things?

Charles Leclerc 19:33 No, no, no, trust me. [laughs] I'm, I'm s- I'm scared of, of, uh, of different things. Snakes I hate.

Jay Shetty 19:38 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 19:38 I hate snakes. I tried bungee jumping and I couldn't jump.

Jay Shetty 19:42 You didn't do it?

Charles Leclerc 19:43 No. But it's weird because at the same time I did parachute, uh, skydiving.

Jay Shetty 19:47 Skydiving, yeah.

Charles Leclerc 19:48 And I loved it. But, uh, but yeah, no, bungee jumping I couldn't jump, so I was super scared. At the same time as you said, whenever I'm in a race car, there's not 1% of me that is, uh, that is scared just because being in control helps a lot, I think. And, um, yeah, no, I'm, I'm never scared.

Jay Shetty 20:06 There's naturally those external things that scare you as well, and I wonder, you know, you've been through... When I was, when I was looking back at your journey and listening, you've been through so much loss in your journey, and I think for you to continue to show up in the way you are right now with love and gratitude and joy, that takes even more courage than sitting in a car and, and dr- and driving at that speed because it's almost sometimes like emotional, emotional transformation is sometimes harder than physical and, and minds- mental transformation. Like,

Jay Shetty 20:40 walk us through the losses that you've endured and, and how you've been able to kind of channel that grief into growth.

Charles Leclerc 20:48 I think it's made me grow faster. I lost my father in 2017, so I was obviously very young, and at this time of your career or your life, you need that person that helps you grow as a man and also as a driver because he was basically my, uh, best mentor. He was also a driver himself back in the day, so obviously he was helping me with all his, um, experience throughout the years that he've learned into, into racing. Um, and to lose him at that age made me, um, yeah, an adult much, much, uh, faster because you get to, uh, manage your own things much earlier. Uh, before that I was just a kid. He will just bring me to the races. I will do what I love the most, which is driving, then flights, organization, planning. That was all on my father, and he was doing that perfectly and, uh, he sacrificed a lot for, for me to get here. But then at one point from one day to the other, there's not your father anymore and you need to take all of these things in hands. I've got my younger brother also. My older brother was, uh, he's 10 years older than me, so he was already a, an adult in a way, but, but my younger brother was three years, uh, younger than me. I had to take care of my mother as well. So all of these things is- it's not something that comes natural when you are 17 or 18 years old. It took some time to get used to it, but I think it, we all got much closer in the family after, after that. It was a difficult moment as well to lose my father because I think I was in the age of around 14 to 19, where you are always clashing a little bit with your parents. After that, I think it got, puts us all together much, much closer than before.

Jay Shetty 22:32 Yeah. What was, what was it like racing

Jay Shetty 22:34 that year? Like, you know, having to show up again now where you don't have your mentor and you don't have the person who believes in you and loves you intrinsically. Like, what was that like? Because I think that that is, that's so brave and, and it requires a inner strength. Like, w- what was that for you? How, what was it like?

Charles Leclerc 22:51 I don't know. I, it was on the, on the Tuesday of Baku I had a Formula 2 race. I was in Formula 2, not yet in Formula 1, and, uh, he, uh, passed away I think on the, on the Tuesday and I had the flight on the Wednesday to get to the race. As soon as he passed away, I asked myself, "What would he want me to do?"

Jay Shetty 23:08 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 23:09 And I had no doubts. I mean, there was only one answer. Um, he was living for racing. He, uh, loved so much racing and he loved seeing me racing, and especially when I won. So I, I knew I had to go there and, uh, do absolutely everything to try and win the race, and that gave me an extra motivation as well to make him proud from, from up there. So, uh, it was, uh, super important for me to do that.

Jay Shetty 23:33 What was his reaction

Jay Shetty 23:34 when you won, and what was his reaction when you didn't win?

Charles Leclerc 23:37 I think the honesty to, to myself always came from my father. He was always super honest with myself.

Jay Shetty 23:43 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 23:43 Um, with me. He was, um, obviously harsh whenever things weren't going, uh, the way he wanted or whenever he thought that there was a mistake that was to be made at that, at that time of, of my career, but at the same time incredibly happy whenever I won. Uh, you could really see how much it meant to him. Um, so he was coming to every races, absolutely every races. But I will say he was a bit of a different father on races because the father tends to be always with the kids on races and always be there and pushing them, and he was always doing a step back on that, trying to le- lets me grow in my own environments with my engineers, me with my mechanics, and get there at the end of the weekend and then have the discussion at the end of the weekend, "Okay, I saw that. This you should have done better, but this was amazing." And he was always super supportive. And also in difficult moments, I think that's all you need sometimes, the good person, a person that is obviously close to you that only wants good from you, uh, for you, and, and that tells you supportive words. And I knew that this was a, a huge help that then I lost when I lost my father. Obviously, there was still my mum, but my mum doesn't have the technical knowledge that my, my father had on, on racing. But it's super important to have close people that then also along your career, whatever level you are at, can tell you the right things at the right moment for you and, uh, yeah, this was super important to me.

Jay Shetty 25:10 Yeah, he sounds like an amazing man.

Charles Leclerc 25:11 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 25:12 He sounds like such a wonderful, wonderful mentor to have in life. And is there any words

Jay Shetty 25:18 of advice that he said to you or something he shared with you that you feel you always kinda carry with you, whether it's on race day or in life? Is there something that he left you that you feel you always turn toward?

Charles Leclerc 25:30 To always stay humble-

Jay Shetty 25:31 Mm

Charles Leclerc 25:32 ... and grateful. I think these are the two words that he always said.

Jay Shetty 25:36 Wow.

Charles Leclerc 25:36 Because even when I was six or seven years old, I've had years where, years that were extremely good for me at that age, where I used maybe doing 24 races and I would win 18 of the 24 races. And at that age, you get carried away, like, "I'm the best and, uh, this is, uh, yeah, this is for me. I'll get to Formula 1." And he was always there, "Charles, you're only six years old."

Jay Shetty 25:59 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 25:59 "Formula 1 is a very long way, uh, so you need to keep working. Stay, uh, stay humble." It was always, always in a funny way that I was doing that. I've, I've never been arrogant in a way because I think it's a trait of our family. We, we are all, all like this. But, um, but yeah, I think these are the two words that I always-

Jay Shetty 26:17 Mm

Charles Leclerc 26:17 ... keep and remind, um, me of it, and especially the grateful part.

Jay Shetty 26:21 Yeah. How, how do you stay humble

Jay Shetty 26:23 when, like you said, you're, you're racing the dream, you're, you're driving Ferrari, like, you know, life's great, like, things are awesome, opportunities are everywhere? Like, how have ... And I can feel it from you, by the way. I, I, I believe it, and, and anyone who's listening or watching, I'm sure you can feel it. I can sense it just from, from sitting with you that, that it's true. How have you, how have you remained that way, and how do you train yourself to remain that way? Obviously, it comes naturally in your family, which is beautiful, but, but is there a practice of tempering with your ego in a way that's helped you?

Charles Leclerc 26:57 Not really. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 26:57 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 26:58 Not really.

Jay Shetty 26:58 It's just a natural-

Charles Leclerc 26:59 No, no, the, the ... I mean, to be humble, I think, yeah, I've never really worked for, for that. It's just words that my father told me, and I always remind myself because as I said, sometimes you can have four really, really good races-

Jay Shetty 27:13 Mm

Charles Leclerc 27:13 ... and you feel like, "Oh, okay. I, I found the rhythm." And it's very easy in those very, very good moments to maybe work a little bit less than in the very difficult moments.

Jay Shetty 27:22 Mm-hmm.

Charles Leclerc 27:23 And this is maybe where sometimes I remind myself, "Charles, yes, you are in a very good moment of your career, but that's, you still need to work as hard as in the very difficult moments because all the people that are now struggling are going to work and going to catch up at one point."

Jay Shetty 27:37 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 27:37 "So you need to keep working as hard as possible." Where I have to do a bit, no, not a bit more work, but where I, I have to think a bit more, it's in the difficult moments b- to be still grateful to be, um, in the position that I am.

Jay Shetty 27:50 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 27:51 Because when you leave the moment and that you struggle with, uh, a race or two, three races in a row, lots of critics are coming to you. Obviously, it's a sport that is quite, it's getting bigger and bigger, especially in the US now. It's, it's getting huge. In Europe it's al- it's always been huge, but there's a lot of pressure when you are a Ferrari driver as well, even more so, uh, because it means a lot to, to people all around the world, and you need to manage those pressures in the dif- difficult moments, and it might be difficult also to manage the opinion of others in those very difficult moments, and it might hurt you personally as well. That's where I always try and work on remembering how grateful-

Jay Shetty 28:33 Mm

Charles Leclerc 28:33 ... I am and how lucky I am to be in that, in that position.

Jay Shetty 28:37 Yeah, definitely. Was

Jay Shetty 28:38 there a criticism or that kind of feedback that, like, hurt you the most where you're like, "Oh, that was hard to deal with. That was difficult"? What, what would that be if there was one?

Charles Leclerc 28:46 The critics that hurts me the most are, are the ones that doesn't define me, uh, as a person. Um, I think in the world we are living now with social media, everybody can give their opinion super easily, and also people that don't know you personally. Yeah, I remember, like, two or three years ago, someone would say, "Oh, l- look how arrogant he is." And these are critics that really hurts me because I know I'm not, I'm not like this. And, um, it's difficult to accept them when you are not, when you are not really like that, and, uh, I remember that hurting me personally. Then you always get critics on your driving or if you do a mistake in a race or whatsoever, but this is part of the sport. This used to hurt me back, especially the first year in Formula 1 because you get from a Formula 2 driver where there are no media, nobody talks about you. You do a mistake and only my mum or my dad would, will say, "Okay, Charles, you, you did a mistake there. It's not good." Where you get to Formula 1 and then you are in the spotlight of absolutely everything. You do a mistake and Hundreds or thousands of people are speaking about it on social media, which, uh, it takes a bit of time to get used to. Um, I remember the first year in Formula 1, I, I got into Formula 1, I was watching absolutely everything that people will say about me because it was, it was new for me. And then you get to learn to just make sure that you only value what people you love most think about, about me. And, and that is only what matters to me.

Jay Shetty 30:17 Yeah, and that's, and that's hard to do. Like you said, like, you go from being in Formula 2 where no one's talking about you to Formula 1 where everyone's talking about you. And I think people in the world have that experience as well, that we're now living at a time where everyone can comment, everyone can share, everyone can say something. I know I struggle to deal with it as well. Like, I find it really difficult, and I love what you said, that it's always when it's about your character that it hurts more. If someone says like, "Oh, you didn't get that technical thing right," whatever, I can live with that, but it's really hard when it's about you as a, a human-

Charles Leclerc 30:50 Yeah

Jay Shetty 30:51 ... in, in your truth when you're like, "Oh, no, no, I'm not like that."

Charles Leclerc 30:53 Mm-hmm.

Jay Shetty 30:54 Like, I wish ... I've said this before, I wish that I ... if everyone who felt that way about me, I wish I could meet them personally-

Charles Leclerc 31:00 Exactly

Jay Shetty 31:00 ... and hold their hands and just talk to them for a second.

Charles Leclerc 31:03 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 31:03 And say, "Look, this is who I truly am. I'm, am and I'm so sorry that somehow you felt that I was that way, and whatever it was, I'm, I'm sorry that it made you feel that way, but I promise you this is who I truly am." But you can't.

Charles Leclerc 31:15 It's ex- e- exactly that. Exactly that. No, no, you can't. Too many people. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 31:18 [laughs] Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 31:19 Um, I always try also to use the social media in order to reflect my true, uh, self.

Jay Shetty 31:26 Mm-hmm.

Charles Leclerc 31:27 Then if someone doesn't like my true self, and then it's like this.

Jay Shetty 31:32 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 31:33 I, I won't be liked by everybody else in the w- uh, by everybody in the world. This is, uh, this is normal, so I just need to be my true self. But as you said, it's just difficult when someone understand a trait of your personality wrong, and then criticize it, and you're like, "That's, that's not me and I wish I could prove you," but it's, it's life.

Jay Shetty 31:51 Yeah, definitely. You were saying earlier that,

Jay Shetty 31:55 you know, fear and what you're scared of, and I've, I've read before that you've said that you're scared of when your brother's driving.

Charles Leclerc 32:01 Yes.

Jay Shetty 32:01 Like, that, that is something that you get scared about. So you're not scared when you're driving and you're in control.

Charles Leclerc 32:06 Mm.

Jay Shetty 32:06 But when you're not in control ... Walk me through what goes through your mind. Like, what is that, what is that fear? What's that experience?

Charles Leclerc 32:13 Because as much as I'm not scared for me at all, I'm still completely aware that it is such an incredibly dangerous sport. As much as there's been so much, uh, safety improvements over the years, it is and will always be a dangerous sport because we go at crazy speeds and anything can happen. Whenever I'm in control and I'm racing, not one part of me thinks about the potential risk I'm occurring doing that. However, when I see someone I love a lot doing exactly the same thing, then you see the things very differently. Of course, I'm always looking at the performance, but for me what is the most important thing of all is his security, him making it safe to the end of the race, and then whatever else comes secondary. It's not as a- as enjoyable to watch racing when my brother is racing-

Jay Shetty 33:05 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 33:06 ... because it's just super scary and I get super, super stressed.

Jay Shetty 33:09 What's the fastest

Jay Shetty 33:10 you've ever been? And when you've watched your brother, what's, what's the fastest he's ever been where you've been worried? Or was there a race where you felt like, "Oh, that was the one"?

Charles Leclerc 33:18 Every. Every race is.

Jay Shetty 33:19 Every single one, it doesn't matter. Wow.

Charles Leclerc 33:20 Yeah, yeah. Every race is, is a torture. Um-

Jay Shetty 33:23 So do you even watch?

Charles Leclerc 33:24 No, I do.

Jay Shetty 33:25 You do, you still watch-

Charles Leclerc 33:26 Yes

Jay Shetty 33:26 ... because of the performance and you wanna help him out?

Charles Leclerc 33:28 But it's difficult because also we are on the same race weekends, and most of the times I've got meetings preparing my race at the same time of his race.

Jay Shetty 33:35 Right.

Charles Leclerc 33:36 And so I need to look at the race, but at the same time, same time be focused on my meeting.

Jay Shetty 33:40 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 33:40 And this is the hardest task ever. But fastest speeds, probably 370 kph, which is around 230 miles per an hour, I think.

Jay Shetty 33:51 Mm-hmm.

Charles Leclerc 33:51 Something like this. I don't think that is the impressive part of Formula 1. The straight line speed is fast, but you don't really feel it in a car like, like a Formula 1 car. It's mostly the braking, the speed in the corners is something crazy and, and very difficult to, um, to put into words and to make it understand in a way.

Jay Shetty 34:13 No, I know ... I, I only know how hard it is just from playing the video game.

Charles Leclerc 34:16 Yeah. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 34:17 Like, that, that's already ... You try to play F1 video games, like, it is one of the hardest things.

Charles Leclerc 34:22 Do you play on the controller or do you have a simulator?

Jay Shetty 34:24 Yes. Oh, no, I have the controller. I haven't got the wheel.

Charles Leclerc 34:25 Oh.

Jay Shetty 34:26 Yeah, yeah.

Charles Leclerc 34:26 You need, you need-

Jay Shetty 34:26 You need to get the wheel

Charles Leclerc 34:27 ... you need to get the wheel.

Jay Shetty 34:27 Need to get the wheel.

Charles Leclerc 34:27 You need to get the wheel.

Jay Shetty 34:28 Yeah. Yeah, even that, you just recognize just how challenging it is. Like, it's ... When, when you're

Jay Shetty 34:34 training, did you ever ... Have you seen, obviously I'm sure you've seen, but when you're training, I'm sure there's accidents, I'm sure you see things that are, that are painful to watch, either with yourself or-

Charles Leclerc 34:44 Yeah

Jay Shetty 34:44 ... uh, with others you love. Like, how is that like when you're training? 'Cause obviously in F1 they've made it safer and everything, but training is like training, right? It's not the same standards.

Charles Leclerc 34:53 Well, first of all, it's a very different sport to others. Uh, football or whatever other sports in the world, you can train as much as you want. In Formula 1 you can't.

Jay Shetty 35:03 Mm-hmm.

Charles Leclerc 35:04 I only have three days in the Formula 1 car over the year, and then it's the first race. That is the only practice I get is three days in the new car. You need to understand what's the behavior of the car.

Jay Shetty 35:17 That's not long at all.

Charles Leclerc 35:18 That is nothing. That is nothing. And then all the rest is done virtually, so you race, you practice on simulators, without a controller, with the wheel this time.

Jay Shetty 35:26 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 35:27 But, uh, but you practice on simulators in order to get ready for the real thing, and then you've got three days in order to get, to get up to speed, um, to understand a tons of informations from the car, that is mostly, uh, on the engineers to do that. And then you need to be ready at the first qualifying session a week later. This is very, very, very difficult. Then as you were saying, um- We all know it's a dangerous sport. Um, I've unfortunately lost my sporting godfather in 2014, Jules Bianchi, who was an incredible driver, and he had a, a fatal crash in, in Japan and lost his life there. And also another friend, Antoine, in 2019 in, in Belgium. And these are very, very difficult moments because then you are racing on this exact same track, you are going through the exact same corner where a person that you were close with lost his life. And this is the two moments in my entire career where you have a bit of negative thoughts going into that corner, and you need to battle-

Jay Shetty 36:31 Mm

Charles Leclerc 36:31 ... a bit through them in order to think about something else and, and get on with it. As much as it's, it's difficult because a part of me was like, I cannot get on with it like nothing happened, but at the same time, you've got to do that. At least as soon as you get inside the car until you get out of the car, you need to do that. You need to focus fully on driving, otherwise you are never able to extract the maximum out of the car.

Jay Shetty 36:59 Yeah, that balance between acceptance, we often think like it's acceptance or action, and actually you're saying it's both together. There's an acceptance of the truth of what happened, and then at the same time you have to drive, and it's not either/or. It's not like, "Okay, I'm gonna get over this, and then we're gonna drive," 'cause that could take forever.

Charles Leclerc 37:19 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 37:19 And you can't just drive and ignore it because it will come up. And

Jay Shetty 37:24 I remember, I mean, I rem- one of my favorite movies is Rush, uh-

Charles Leclerc 37:27 Yeah

Jay Shetty 37:27 ... with Niki Lauda and, uh, James Hunt. Like, that's probably one of my favorite movies, and it's ... It ... You see so much of the world of, like, the ego, the, the fame-

Charles Leclerc 37:36 Yeah

Jay Shetty 37:36 ... the success, the, the focus, the amount of effort, the competition. Like, you, you see the dangerous side of it. Like, there's the ... It's, it's so well done, the movie. I've always been a fan. I wonder whether you're a fan of that movie, or whether you're like, "Ah, it's not like that at all." [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 37:50 No, I, I, I love it.

Jay Shetty 37:51 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 37:52 I love it.

Jay Shetty 37:52 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 37:52 I mean, I think it's, um, a really good representation of what the sport was back then.

Jay Shetty 37:57 Yes, yes, yes. Not now, yeah.

Charles Leclerc 37:59 And it was amazing to see how it was back then and how it is now and how much everything has changed. And I also think that as much as today when I say that I'm getting into the car and there's not one part of me that think about the danger, I really believe that 30, 40 years ago, that was completely different for the drivers back then, and they probably ... I think it was the driver that was willing to get the closest to death-

Jay Shetty 38:28 Mm

Charles Leclerc 38:28 ... that was the fastest because they were so brave. The cars, I've driven old cars now, and there was no safety. Like, the, where they had the legs is just something like this of metal, and if you take-

Jay Shetty 38:43 Really?

Charles Leclerc 38:43 ... if you take, if you take a wall, that's, that's it. And obviously I'm sure they had that in mind somewhere, which now everything is so much safer that you don't, you don't think about it anymore. So I think the, the sport has evolved like crazy since then, but it's a great movie.

Jay Shetty 39:00 Yeah. [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 39:00 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 39:01 No, and I love hearing that. Like, it's so interesting. Obviously we know it's changed, but to hear about how much the cars have changed, how much safer they are, like, the, the r- level of risk that a driver was taking back then is, is insane. It's unfathomable to even recognize, like you're saying. It's interesting for someone from the outside to even look at that. What was your favorite car

Jay Shetty 39:22 that you've gone back and driven? Is there, like, a favorite era or, like, a, a favorite year that you've, you've seen or exposed to, and why? Why is it special?

Charles Leclerc 39:30 I've actually driven the Niki Lauda car.

Jay Shetty 39:32 Wow.

Charles Leclerc 39:32 Um, that was very, very special. Unfortunately, I had a problem on the car while driving on the brakes, uh, which was pretty scary, but, uh, I really enjoyed driving that car. But it was completely different. I think also, uh, in terms of driving, it was super different. You had the, the gearbox. You, you had the shifter, so you had to press the, the clutch every time you would pass the gears. Like in a normal car today, but now in a Formula 1 car, everything is electronic. So you pass the gears, you only press a button. You don't have to press the clutch. You don't have to press anything, and you, your brain can focus on many, many other things. We've got hundred, thousands of things going on on the steering wheel that we need to touch while driving, but you haven't got to think about the gears anymore. Back then, I think the gears was a, a super important part of, of, of driving. But I really enjoyed driving these, uh, these Lauda old cars. This was very special.

Jay Shetty 40:27 Yeah. It's amazing. I can imagine the amount

Jay Shetty 40:30 of attention this takes. Like, you, like we said, you're on the road for a long time. You're doing so many races a year. You've got so many things happening in front of you while you're on the race. It's natural to experience burnout. Like, it's natural to become exhausted. Do you find that you're ... What do you do as recovery? Like you were saying, like, and you just came from the Brazil race, like-

Charles Leclerc 40:50 Yes

Jay Shetty 40:50 ... just now. Like, what, y- a couple of days ago.

Charles Leclerc 40:52 Two years ago, yeah.

Jay Shetty 40:53 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 40:53 Or two days, two days ago.

Jay Shetty 40:53 Two days, two days ago.

Charles Leclerc 40:54 Yeah, yeah.

Jay Shetty 40:54 Yeah, two days ago. Like, what did you have to do in those two days to just feel normal again, if normal's even a reality?

Charles Leclerc 41:01 I love music. I play piano, and, uh-

Jay Shetty 41:04 I've seen videos of it.

Charles Leclerc 41:05 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 41:05 You're pretty good, yeah.

Charles Leclerc 41:07 Kind of.

Jay Shetty 41:07 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 41:07 But good enough to, uh-

Jay Shetty 41:09 Yeah

Charles Leclerc 41:09 ... um, to enjoy it and to disconnect from everything. And, uh, for me, piano and, and music in general is an, an amazing way of disconnecting myself from the pressure of, of Formula 1, from Form- Formula 1 as a whole.

Jay Shetty 41:24 You don't sing, though?

Charles Leclerc 41:25 I don't.

Jay Shetty 41:26 No.

Charles Leclerc 41:26 No, no. Better, better I don't sing. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 41:28 Yeah, yeah. [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 41:28 Just, just playing the piano.

Jay Shetty 41:30 Yeah, yeah.

Charles Leclerc 41:30 But, uh, yeah, playing the piano is definitely one of, uh, the thing I love most to disconnect and, and recharge my batteries.

Jay Shetty 41:37 And has that been a part of your life for a long, long time through the whole journey?

Charles Leclerc 41:40 Actually, not at all.

Jay Shetty 41:41 Oh, wow.

Charles Leclerc 41:41 I, uh, I started during, uh, COVID.

Jay Shetty 41:44 Wow.

Charles Leclerc 41:44 Lots of time at home. I had the simulator, so I was driving a lot virtually-

Jay Shetty 41:49 Twitch, yeah

Charles Leclerc 41:49 ... every day. But, uh, yeah, with Twitch, actually. But after Two weeks, two weeks and a half doing that all day was getting quite tiring. So I, I bought a piano, I started, um, then and, and I, I loved it.

Jay Shetty 42:02 Wow. Yeah, and what i- what is it that ... Like, how do you, how have you taught y- have you simply taught yourself to play? Like, is that how it's worked, or?

Charles Leclerc 42:09 Yes. I always, um, when we were younger, um, my, uh, younger brother used to have a piano, so I sometimes was playing on it, but not, I never took, like, courses or whatsoever. And, uh, I thought COVID was a great time to try and learn it a bit more, pushing a bit more and trying to understand a bit more how everything works. So I took some lessons, like five or six, but very quickly I realized that I wasn't done for lessons.

Jay Shetty 42:33 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 42:34 So I just, uh, taught myself the, the piano and tried to came up with melodies and musics that I enjoyed. Yeah, sometimes I thought I will be on the piano since an hour, and I will look the time and it will be four or five hours passed. I, I just really, really liked it.

Jay Shetty 42:49 Yeah. It, it's nice to hear that you've had, and I guess COVID was a surprising time where people had a bit more time or to take up hobbies and try new things, but I've always found that especially Formula 1, like it's so grueling, there's so much attention required, there's so much focus required. How

Jay Shetty 43:07 has your ... And we were just talking about it when you, when you came in today.

Charles Leclerc 43:10 Yes.

Jay Shetty 43:10 Like, you don't have that much time for a personal life. You've got the events in between, you've got ... Like, how have you made sense of that? What does your personal life look like when you do have time? How much time do you get a year, actually? Let's start there. Like, how much time do you get a year where you actually got time for your family, your friends, and yourself?

Charles Leclerc 43:28 I will say maybe 40 days.

Jay Shetty 43:33 40 days a year?

Charles Leclerc 43:34 Yeah. Like, 30, 40 days a year. We've got two weeks, two weeks and a half in, uh, August, and then two weeks, two weeks and a half in, um, in December, so for Christmas and, and everything. But then also with Formula 1, the good thing is that we travel all over the world, but years after years, you also go to always the same places, um, which then you meet new people in this city, and then you've got group of friends a little bit everywhere around the world, which is also super nice. So whenever I go to Brazil, uh, here in Los Angeles, um, Miami, I've, I've got my group of friends there. So it's, um, always great to come back to a race. Obviously, you want to drive as much as possible and be in the car again, uh, as soon as possible, but at the same time, you've got your friends there. So it's not like my private life is suffering a lot from it.

Jay Shetty 44:24 Mm-hmm.

Charles Leclerc 44:24 My mum also now can follow me on, on races. Think it's more when I was a, a kid that it was a bit more difficult in a way that you are, uh, sometimes you are leaving school for two or three weeks for different races, and there you don't spend as much time with, uh, your home friends. I used to not speak Italian and English when I was a kid, so you get to the karting tracks and you cannot really speak with, uh-

Jay Shetty 44:48 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 44:49 ... anybody. So that is a bit more the difficult part. But at the same time, I was so incredibly happy to go to the racetrack to drive karting. That was-

Jay Shetty 44:57 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 44:58 ... making it all, uh, all up for it.

Jay Shetty 45:00 Yeah. Are there any other athletes

Jay Shetty 45:02 or any other sports or even musicians maybe even because of-

Charles Leclerc 45:05 Mm-hmm

Jay Shetty 45:05 ... or, or architects, engineers that you've kind of like looked to and been inspired by and, and pulled from? Have you studied people that you find fascinating or that kind of become your guidance and mentors even if you don't know them personally or, or has it, or is it very much a personal love and a personal inspiration thing?

Charles Leclerc 45:24 I, I really try to be the best version of myself. Uh, having said that, there was one driver that for me was the best of all time was Ayrton Senna. I've never had the chance because I'm too young to have witnessed him in, in real life, but obviously through movies, some books, I could learn more about his person and, and what he's done in Formula 1, and he's always been a person that I've admired, and he was also the idol of my father, so I think that played-

Jay Shetty 45:51 Mm-hmm

Charles Leclerc 45:51 ... a part into it as well.

Jay Shetty 45:52 What was it specifically about the way he raced that, from what you've seen in footage and books, what was it about him?

Charles Leclerc 45:57 Just the precision that he had, uh, at that time. It was also in the time where we were mentioning before in a much more dangerous time of, of Formula 1. Sadly, he lost his life on the track. But he was so precise, and he was extremely special in Monaco. He was special everywhere, but in Monaco even more so. And being in Monaco, watching the videos of his, uh, onboard camera, uh, of his qualifying laps around Monaco was ... It's just crazy.

Jay Shetty 46:23 It ... Have any simulators

Jay Shetty 46:25 ever done this where you could race alongside legendary racers? Does that exist? Like, have you, like, if you wanted to race him, like-

Charles Leclerc 46:32 Maybe, maybe, like, games.

Jay Shetty 46:34 Yeah, yeah, yeah, games.

Charles Leclerc 46:35 But not like proper Formula 1 simulators.

Jay Shetty 46:36 Not like a proper simulator. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Charles Leclerc 46:38 No, no, no.

Jay Shetty 46:38 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 46:38 Our simulator is crazy.

Jay Shetty 46:40 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 46:40 It's in a room that is maybe-

Jay Shetty 46:42 This

Charles Leclerc 46:43 ... five or six times bigger than this one, and it's like a huge simulator moving everywhere to try and reproduce the g-forces. So now they are really pushed, but you're only racing on your own, so you cannot reproduce a, a, a race or whatsoever. You're just doing laps on your own.

Jay Shetty 46:58 That simulator, where is that stationed? Like, where do you go?

Charles Leclerc 47:01 In Maranello.

Jay Shetty 47:02 Okay.

Charles Leclerc 47:03 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 47:03 And y- that's, that simulator you're in all year round. The three days are in the real car.

Charles Leclerc 47:07 Yes. So you do three days in the real car, and then everything else is on the simulator.

Jay Shetty 47:12 Walk us through what that simulator feels like. Like, what ... You described it briefly there, but, like, walk us through, like, how ... What does it give you and what does it not give you?

Charles Leclerc 47:21 Uh, so what it gives you extremely well is that the engineers have managed to reproduce extremely close to the real car, the feeling that you get in the real car. The thing that it doesn't give you and will, I think, never, ever give you is obviously the adrenaline first, because you know you're on a simulator. You crash, you press the re- restart button, then you go again, which in reality is a bit more difficult. And also the g-forces, because we've got a huge platform which reproduces the, the g-forces, but you're only going from right to left-

Jay Shetty 47:53 Mm-hmm

Charles Leclerc 47:53 ... and then it stops. In a Formula 1 car, when you turn right, then-

Jay Shetty 47:57 Mm

Charles Leclerc 47:57 ... the g-forces are always there until you stop turning right, which, um, yeah, makes a big difference is because to be precise on a platform that is quite stable is one thing. To be precise in a Formula 1 car with all the vibrations, with all the g-forces, um, that your body go through- ... is a complete other, so, um, it makes things a bit more complicated.

Jay Shetty 48:19 It's fascinating to even think that you have to do something for work that you don't actually get to do [laughs] . And, and it's, it's phenomenal how smart and astute and intense you have to be in order to make it all come together. I wanted to ask you,

Jay Shetty 48:34 I was thinking about this before and I'm, I'm bringing it back because I wanted to ask you, if, if your father was here now and he was getting to watch you now, like, what do you think he'd say to you? Like, how do you think he'd respond to the journey that you're on?

Charles Leclerc 48:47 I think he would be extremely proud, because he passed away a year before I got into Formula 1. It was very difficult because I unfortunately did not, I, I hadn't signed my Formula 1 contract, which was the ultimate goal for our family. I mean, Formula 1 is really where you want to get once you start a racing career, that's, that's where you want to be one day. But I had lied to him, uh, two days before he passed away, and I told him, "Listen, I, I, I signed my Formula 1 contract." The year was going well. I was quite confident that this will happen, but I also knew it was a matter of days before he will pass away. And I remember that, that night that I said it to my mum, and my mum was pretty angry with me, telling me, "You shouldn't lie to your father." And that stayed in me for months. And luckily, I signed my contract a month later. He wasn't, he wasn't here anymore. And then I found much more peace within myself because I told myself, "Okay, I didn't lie my father."

Jay Shetty 49:48 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 49:49 "And I, and I told him the truth. I anticipated things-

Jay Shetty 49:51 Yeah

Charles Leclerc 49:51 ... but everything is, is, is okay." And that was a, a really good moment because, as I said, Formula 1 is really the goal for every driver, and it was difficult to, yeah, accept that he will go away without knowing what was the race. But I think he would be really proud. As much as on track at the moment this year, not going too much into the specific, but it's not the best year ever. We are struggling a little bit with our car performance. But yeah, I'm still driving for Ferrari and in Formula 1, so he would be happy.

Jay Shetty 50:20 Yeah. That's beautiful. Yeah, you shared that with, um, Cristiano Ronaldo has a similar story with his father. Like, his father-

Charles Leclerc 50:26 Okay

Jay Shetty 50:26 ... never really got to see him-

Charles Leclerc 50:28 Yeah

Jay Shetty 50:28 ... become Cristiano Ronaldo, and the idea of, like, how, how hard it is when, like, you know, you have a father who believes in you and loves you and wants you to become phenomenal, and I don't... I can't, I can't remember the exact year that he lost his father, but his father never got to see him reach the heights that he did. But of course, it's beautiful to hear that.

Charles Leclerc 50:46 Mm.

Jay Shetty 50:46 I'm so glad you could share it with him. That's such a special... I'm so glad you got to tell him that.

Charles Leclerc 50:52 Yeah, yeah.

Jay Shetty 50:52 And I'm so glad it became true. Um [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 50:54 Me too. I think I will have, I will have lived, uh, so badly with a, with a lie like this for the rest of my life. So I'm, I'm happy. I did everything for it to happen.

Jay Shetty 51:03 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 51:03 It happened. And, and he also sacrificed a lot for me.

Jay Shetty 51:07 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 51:08 I never like to say that I sacrificed anything in my life because I didn't. I, I just did-

Jay Shetty 51:12 Mm

Charles Leclerc 51:13 ... everything that I wanted to do, which was racing. As much as, yes, I wasn't a lot of time at home when I was a kid, but I was spending my time on track, which was what, what I love doing the most. He, on the other hand, sacrificed a lot because-

Jay Shetty 51:27 Mm-hmm

Charles Leclerc 51:27 ... motorsport is unfortunately a, a very expensive sport.

Jay Shetty 51:30 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Charles Leclerc 51:31 Um, he had to do saving for me to, uh, be able to do what I love most, which was, uh, driving, and I was aware of that. And also the fact that obviously my mum, he couldn't see my mum that much because he was always with me on races. So I think he made m- many more sacrifices than, than I did, because for me, it was always, uh, pure pleasure.

Jay Shetty 51:50 Is, is driving a

Jay Shetty 51:52 lonely sport? I imagine that everyone's quite competitive. Like I, y- I can't imagine drivers being friends and hanging out afterwards because, I don't know.

Charles Leclerc 52:00 Mm. Actually-

Jay Shetty 52:00 I mean, you tell me. You tell me

Charles Leclerc 52:02 ... ac- actually, I've got a, a really good friend on the grid, uh, Pierre Gasly. We grew up together. We started in karting. We did our first race together in 2005.

Jay Shetty 52:11 Wow.

Charles Leclerc 52:11 So we were, um, yeah, like seven, eight years old. We did the French championship together, and we became s- super good friends. Our family are super close as well, so we used to get, going on holidays together.

Jay Shetty 52:22 Oh, neat.

Charles Leclerc 52:22 And then we found ourself in Formula 1 now, so... But trust me, as soon as I close the visor and I'm with a helmet, he's nobody anymore.

Jay Shetty 52:30 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 52:30 And that's the same for him, and we know that. But whenever we are outside the car, we have a really, really strong friendship. So, uh, you can have friends, but it's very difficult to create friendships if you didn't know that person before getting into Formula 1.

Jay Shetty 52:45 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 52:45 Because it's such a competitive world. Everybody wants to have the upper hand. Everybody wants to do everything in his own benefit because at the end, we want to win. We want to be the best on track. So there's a lot of respect, but we are not giving anything away to, uh, to the others. And as much as I'm with, friend with Pier- Pierre, I'm not giving him any advices or whatsoever.

Jay Shetty 53:09 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 53:09 Uh, I just want to beat him as much as I want to beat, uh, everybody else on track. But, um, lonely sport, I don't think it is because at the end it's a, it's a team sport.

Jay Shetty 53:21 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 53:21 The only thing is that the team is a bit in the, is working a bit in the shadow because when you watch Formula 1, you see mostly the driver driving the car. But behind that, the mechanics are making sure that they mount everything perfectly. The engineers are working and trying to optimize the car in the best possible way. Then there's a lot of strategy during the race. So there are, there are many, many, many people in the background speaking and connected to me through the radio, so I need to speak with the guys on, um, in the pits while I'm driving. Uh, and it's a big part of, of racing.

Jay Shetty 53:55 What are your dreams and visions of, you know, wanting to be one of the best and winning a world championship? What would that mean to you? Like, how important is that? What does that mean to you? What would it feel like? Like, what, what fuels you and drives you to go in that direction?

Charles Leclerc 54:09 Just to be the number one. Just the feeling of the victory, obviously. I, I, I mean, I won few races in Formula 1. And the feeling that you get once you get that win is incredible because you know you've done the best on track, but it depends on so many other people doing the right thing.

Jay Shetty 54:28 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 54:28 Is that whenever you do it, it's such an incredible joy, not only for you, but for more than 1,500 people that are back at the factory in Maranello working for the Formula 1 program. So it's, uh, it's, it's crazy. Uh, there are so many people involved, and whenever you achieve that as a team, it's such a, an incredible feeling. Yeah, victory, the, the taste of victory is what motivates me. Every morning I wake up and I think about that. Every day that is a bit more difficult to wake up and go and training, I think about winning a world championship one day and the feeling that it gives me and ... So yeah, this is what motivates me.

Jay Shetty 55:06 Yeah. Let, let's manifest it right now like you did with, with-

Charles Leclerc 55:10 Yeah

Jay Shetty 55:10 ... what you said to your father. Like, let's, let's fast-forward and it's manifested, the world championship's here. What would you,

Jay Shetty 55:17 what would you say to that self from here? What would you say to your future self?

Charles Leclerc 55:21 Well done, first. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 55:22 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 55:22 That is a pretty easy, easy one.

Jay Shetty 55:24 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 55:25 Um, to remember the, all your career.

Jay Shetty 55:29 Journey.

Charles Leclerc 55:29 And all, yeah, yeah, your journey. Uh, and to remember every single difficult moments where you thought you wouldn't make it. These difficult moments that I went through my career, sometimes you tend to think, "I'm not gonna make it to Formula 1. I'm not gonna make it to become a world champion." So yeah, if I become world champion, I will tell, uh, that to my, to myself, to think about every single moments where I thought this wouldn't p- be possible. And this is also something that I tell myself today, to the younger person I was, sometimes thinking, "I will never make it to Formula 1. There are only 20 drivers in the world. Why me?" And yeah, to remember those moments and tell yourself that it's possible. With hard work, with motivation, it's possible to do anything.

Jay Shetty 56:16 Charles, well, you're definitely winning at the race of life for sure, I can tell.

Charles Leclerc 56:20 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 56:20 Like, it's wonderful to engage with you and connect with you and just we're definitely manifesting it right now.

Charles Leclerc 56:26 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 56:27 Want to, want to see it happen and, uh, you know, can't wait for it because you deserve it. I can tell that.

Charles Leclerc 56:32 Thank you.

Jay Shetty 56:33 The grace with which you carry yourself and the humility and the gratitude is really beautiful, and I think that those are the kind of winners we need in the world as well. I think, I think the world is starving for winners that have great character and have great morals and, you know, have their values in the right place. Like, I, I look at that. I always think that if the most successful and the most talented and most impactful people in the world are walking in that graceful way, then that's gonna impact so many younger generations and, and so many others. Do you, how often

Jay Shetty 57:06 do you get to work with younger drivers and people who are up and coming and, like, do you enjoy that? Do you ...

Charles Leclerc 57:10 I love it.

Jay Shetty 57:11 Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 57:11 I love it. I had a, actually an incredible experience. I went to a, to a karting race, I think it was few months ago, like three, four months ago, and it had been a long time I didn't go into a karting race watching kids. I have my younger cousin actually that is starting karting-

Jay Shetty 57:26 Oh, wow

Charles Leclerc 57:26 ... that I went to, uh, I went to see him and I got there and, I mean, I, I didn't have any expectations. I arrived to the track and all the kids were around me and looking with the eyes full of, of joy and admiration, and that made me, uh, come back a little bit when I was a kid and, and a Formula 1 driver will get to the track and you will see him like-

Jay Shetty 57:50 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 57:50 ... God.

Jay Shetty 57:51 [laughs]

Charles Leclerc 57:51 Uh, and, uh, and to see that in kids' eyes was something super, super special because at the end I live my, my own life but sometime I don't really realize that I, I am now a f- Formula 1 Ferrari driver, which is something very special and something else I've always dreamt of, as I've been saying many, many times. But I, for me, I'm still me. For my mum, I'm still-

Jay Shetty 58:16 Of course

Charles Leclerc 58:17 ... her son. So I'm, I'm staying with people that it's normal to be around me, but then once I get to the kids and to the karting races that don't see Formula 1 drivers every day, you can understand how special it is. And the smallest gesture, and this I remember from being a kid, the smallest gesture that the Formula 1 driver will have towards me, it will change my life. For months I will think about, about that. I met Michael Schumacher when I was seven or six years old, and I remember that day still as it was yesterday. So yeah, I, I really spend time with the kids and, and trying to make them the happiest possible, and it was amazing to see the impact that it had for, for them and, and how happy they left from just meeting me. For me it's nothing. I spent, what, an hour with them? But for them I, I'm sure it meant a lot and that was very special to, to see that.

Jay Shetty 59:09 Yeah. That's beautiful. Do you believe that

Jay Shetty 59:11 the life you're living is, that it's been created from your mind or a vision or training? Like, how do you think about how what has happened? Is it hard work? Is it effort? Is it attitude? Is it all of those things? Is it something bigger than you? Is there a higher power? Like, what is it for you? How do you describe the journey so far?

Charles Leclerc 59:31 I think clear vision is what helped me, uh, since a very, very young age because even though I started at, uh, three and a half, maybe from three and a half to five it was only for fun. But already from five, every time I was getting to the track, yes, I love what I do, but I want to be the best. This was super important for me to get away of the track the evening and to have learned something new and to have done a step in terms of driving and, uh, understanding of the karting and all of these kind of things. And, and this I've always kept it. I was very clear in setting my goals, realistic goals, and in where I wanted to be.

Jay Shetty 1:00:12 Mm-hmm.

Charles Leclerc 1:00:13 Not in 10, 15 years' time because this was- ... way too far, but in one or two months' time, which were small steps, but small steps always in the right direction. And I think that definitely helped me in achieving small goals after small goals to get to the bigger goal, which was obviously to become a Formula 1 driver, and even more so with Ferrari. But it's with the different small steps that I've, uh, and the different targets that I've, uh, fixed myself throughout my, my career.

Jay Shetty 1:00:40 Absolutely. Charles, we,

Jay Shetty 1:00:42 uh, end every episode of On Purpose with a Final Five. So these final five questions have to be answered in one word or one sentence-

Charles Leclerc 1:00:50 Okay

Jay Shetty 1:00:51 ... maximum.

Charles Leclerc 1:00:51 All right.

Jay Shetty 1:00:52 So tight. So these are your Fast Five.

Charles Leclerc 1:00:54 Yes.

Jay Shetty 1:00:54 You drive fast-

Charles Leclerc 1:00:55 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 1:00:55 ... and so now, now you gotta talk fast. You don't have to answer them fast. They're just shorter answers. Uh, question number one, Charles, what is the best advice you've ever heard or received?

Charles Leclerc 1:01:05 I'll use the one off my father. Stay humble, be grateful, and work hard. That is one sentence, right? [laughs]

Jay Shetty 1:01:12 Yeah, yeah, that's perfect. Yeah, yeah, no, that's perfect. That's perfect. All right, second question. What is the worst advice you've ever heard or received on your journey?

Charles Leclerc 1:01:20 Don't do this mistake.

Jay Shetty 1:01:21 Mm.

Charles Leclerc 1:01:22 I think you've got to do mistakes in order to learn from them and to become the person that you are then 20, 20 years after. Otherwise, you ... Yeah. So, so yeah, I think every mistakes, uh, as I said earlier, I think I always tend to think that it's a positive thing because you grow from them.

Jay Shetty 1:01:38 Absolutely. Uh, question number three, how do you prepare on a big day for a race on the day, and how do you end the day after the race?

Charles Leclerc 1:01:49 Cold baths. I start it and I end it, uh, that way.

Jay Shetty 1:01:53 You-

Charles Leclerc 1:01:53 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 1:01:53 Wow, both sides.

Charles Leclerc 1:01:54 Yeah, yeah. It's, uh ... I, I love it. Uh, it's great for the body, uh, especially for our sport. Inside the cockpit, we are going through extremely high temperatures, so to put the body as low as possible, uh, before the race is super important, and then I do the cold bath again for recovery after that. Uh, and that also wakes me up if I'm a bit, uh, tired in the morning.

Jay Shetty 1:02:15 [laughs] Yeah.

Charles Leclerc 1:02:16 So, uh, yes, cold baths.

Jay Shetty 1:02:18 Nice. Yeah, and I've seen you do cryotherapy as well.

Charles Leclerc 1:02:20 Exactly. I love it.

Jay Shetty 1:02:20 I saw that video.

Charles Leclerc 1:02:21 I love it.

Jay Shetty 1:02:21 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I do a lot of, uh, infrared saunas and cold plunges and-

Charles Leclerc 1:02:25 Okay. Oh, yes

Jay Shetty 1:02:25 ... I enjoy that as well. Yeah, it's, it's fantastic. Uh, question number four, what is something you've learned about yourself through your Formula 1 journey? Something you've learned about yourself personally.

Charles Leclerc 1:02:39 That I'm much stronger than what I initially thought. You get into Formula 1, and I was still a kid. So, uh, you get into a team with 1,500 people, with media, with a lot of pressure, and straightaway you, you ask a bit yourself sometimes, "Am I ready for this?" I used to do karting on my own with my father as a mechanic, and now I'm in Formula 1 with 1,500 people working in order to make the best car for me. Lots of media attention, lots of pressure. Am I ready for this? I am. So, uh-

Jay Shetty 1:03:07 Yeah

Charles Leclerc 1:03:07 ... so yeah, maybe that I am stronger than what I initially thought.

Jay Shetty 1:03:11 I love that. Uh, fifth and final question, we ask this to every guest. Uh, if you could create one law or rule in the world that everyone had to follow, what would it be?

Charles Leclerc 1:03:21 I mean, it's a very simple one, but I think be nice and respectful to everybody-

Jay Shetty 1:03:24 Mm-hmm

Charles Leclerc 1:03:24 ... I think is extremely important, and sometimes the world lacks, lacks that. This is something that I always remind myself. In a way it comes natural, but-

Jay Shetty 1:03:35 Mm-hmm

Charles Leclerc 1:03:36 ... I think it's super important to just be nice, genuine with people around you, whoever this person is. And, um, if everybody in the world would be, uh, like that, I think the world will be a, a much better place.

Jay Shetty 1:03:51 Absolutely. Charles, is there anything I haven't asked you that you wanted to share today that you, that's on your heart, that's in your mind, that you're like, "Jay, I really wanted to talk about this," and maybe we haven't touched on it? I wanna give you the, the floor to share anything.

Charles Leclerc 1:04:03 I think, uh, it's been a really good talk. So, uh, no, I think you've touched, uh, you've touched everything.

Jay Shetty 1:04:08 Okay. Good. Yeah, no, I wanted to give you the opportunity because I'm, I'm so grateful that we got to have this time, and definitely the words I'm gonna remember you by is, uh, is grateful and humble. I, I love those words. I love that that's how your family raised you. I love that theme coming out in our conversation today. I felt, I could feel your genuine ... You still have a childlike love for what you do.

Charles Leclerc 1:04:31 Oh, that's for sure.

Jay Shetty 1:04:32 And, and I, and I think that that is so rare. Uh, it can ... You know, we all get tired, jaded, stressed, whatever, and that's natural, but it's amazing that you've held onto that, and, uh, I think it's a credit to your beautiful parents and family that have-

Charles Leclerc 1:04:46 Oh, thank you

Jay Shetty 1:04:47 ... instilled it in you.

Charles Leclerc 1:04:47 Thank you so much.

Jay Shetty 1:04:48 So thank you, man. Thank you so much.

Charles Leclerc 1:04:49 Thank you.

Jay Shetty 1:04:50 If you loved this episode, you'll love my interview with Kobe Bryant on how to be strategic and obsessive to find your purpose.

Speaker 1:04:59 Our children have become less imaginative about how to problem solve, and parents and coaches have become more directive in trying to tell them how to behave versus teaching them how to behave